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My parents have a 25g tank with 10 glowlite tetras and about 8 serpae tetras. The glowlites seem to have a problem with their tail fins (along with all the other fins) becoming frayed. At first they only had about 5 of these tetras and we figured they were possibly nipping at each other - so we threw in a few more hoping this would reduce the amount of nipping, but no luck. Their fins look terrible and we are trying to determine if it's some kind of disease or water quality issue.

Currently their nitrates are low, with no ammonia or nitrite present. pH is approx 7.4 and the water is from large "spring water" jugs as their tap water contains high levels of iron.

Is there anything else we can check?

My bet is on the serpae tetras.
I bet they are getting attacked.
try adding some melafix to the tank to help heal the
fins.


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Never thought of Melafix... Might not hurt to add some, but the 5 new tetras we put in were nice and healthy looking 2 weeks ago. We came down to visit this weekend and the new tetras look just as bad as the old ones had been - all ripped and torn, and missing chunks of their fins.

There was initially approx 4 serpae & 4 glowlites.. So we put in another 4 serpae & 5 glowlites to try and distribute the nipping hoping it would cut down on the ripped fins (if that was the problem).. but it continues so I was hoping maybe it was a water quality issue that we could solve.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

I bet its still the serpaes...they're pretty nippy from what I've heard and they will pursue anything smaller than them (which the glowlights are). Maybe you can add some more plants/ hiding spots, etc?
Your water is fine, and the low nitrates are good, so there aren't any problems there. Plus you're using bottled water, so there's no worry of heavey metals, etc.
Correct me anyone if I'm wrong

Last edited by fairynr at 25-Jul-2005 20:46

I wonder if Serpaes attack larger fish? I am having the same problem with my angelfish fins. And I have serpaes in the tank. I do not witness any aggression from the serpaes (actually one of them has a ripped fin also) but I am wondering what goes on at night after the lights are out